TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it would spend more than 200 million pounds ($296 million) to upgrade its UK plant, turning it into a global production hub for the next-generation five-door Civic.
In a move that secures the medium-term future of the under-utilised factory in Swindon, Japan's No.3 automaker said it would invest in advanced production technologies and processes, bringing cumulative investment in the plant to more than 2.2 billion pounds.
The new five-door Civic to be produced there would be sold in Europe as well as exported to other markets. As it produces more Civics, production of the next-generation CR-V crossover would be moved to its factory in Ontario, Canada, for export to Europe, it said.
The Swindon plant has the capacity to produce 250,000 cars per year, and built just under 120,000 cars in 2014.
($1 = 0.6766 pounds) (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)